COPSS Awards

The Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) Awards are jointly sponsored by the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the International Biometric Society ENAR, the International Biometric Society WNAR, and the Statistical Society of Canada. They are: the R.A. Fisher Lectureship; the Florence Nightingale David Award; the Elizabeth L. Scott Award; the George W. Snedecor Award; and the Presidents' Award. Each award consists of a plaque, a citation, and a cash honorarium. Additional information for all the awards and a list of past COPSS awards recipients can be found at the COPSS web site: http://www.niss.org/copss. A list of COPSS members and current committee members is also available at the COPSS website.

All COPSS awards are open to all regardless of age, race, sexual orientation, nationality or citizenship except the F.N. David Award which is restricted to only female statisticians and the Presidents’ award which is awarded to a younger (age < 41 years) statistician. Nominees must be living at the time of their nominations and a prior nomination does not exclude a nominee from consideration in subsequent years. Nominations may be made by members of any of the COPSS affiliated organizations. Members of COPSS are not eligible for COPSS awards during their terms of service.

The call for nominations for COPSS 2008 awards was announced by the COPSS Chair Jessica Utts at the 2007 COPSS Award ceremony at the Joint Statistical Meetings.

Presidents’ Award     

The Presidents' Award is presented annually to a young member of one of the participating societies of COPSS. The award is presented in recognition of outstanding contributions to the statistics profession. It is typically granted to an individual who has not yet reached his or her 41st birthday during the calendar year of the award. In the special case of an individual who has received his or her statistically related terminal degree less than 12 years prior to the nomination deadline, a nominee will be eligible who has not yet reached his or her 46th birthday during the calendar year of the award. The award was established in 1976. Members of the Award Committee are not eligible to receive the award during their term of service. Eligible nominations should include a current vitae, nominee's date of birth, a nomination letter (up to 3 pages), and up to 5 supporting letters. Nominations should be sent by January 15, 2008 to:

Jack Kalbfleisch
Dept of Biostatistics
University of Michigan
1420 Washington Heights
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029

R.A. Fisher Lectureship     

The Fisher Lectureship and Award, awarded annually, was established in 1963 by COPSS to honor the outstanding contributions of the late Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher, and those of a current statistician, on aspects of statistics and probability that closely relate to the scientific collection and interpretation of data. The award exists to recognize the importance of statistical methods for scientific investigations. The Fisher Lecture is delivered at the JSM in the year of the award and is generally about an hour long. Members of the Award Committee are not eligible to receive the award during their term of service. Eligible nominations should be sent by December 15, 2007 to:

Lori Thombs
Chair, Fisher Lecturer Committee
Dept. of Statistics, Middlebush Hall
Univ. of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211

George W. Snedecor Award     

The George W. Snedecor Award honors an individual who was instrumental in the development of statistical theory in biometry. The award is for a noteworthy publication in biometry within three years of the date of the award. The Snedecor Award, established in 1976, is awarded bi-annually (odd years) and consists of a plaque and a cash award. Nominations for the Snedecor Award should include the citation and a paragraph describing the impact of the work.

Elizabeth L. Scott Award     

The Elizabeth L. Scott Award is presented biennially (even years) to recognize a statistician who has fostered opportunities in statistics for women. It honors the lifelong efforts of its namesake, a statistician and astronomer, who made exceptional theoretical and applied statistics contributions to research, was president of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) and the Bernoulli Society, received numerous honors and awards, and enjoyed a long, distinguished, career as a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. The award recognizes excellence in: developing programs to encourage women to seek careers in statistics; successfully mentoring women students or new researchers; working to identify gender-based inequities in employment; and serving as a role model to women. It was established in 1992. Members of the Award Committee are not eligible to receive the award during their term of service. Eligible nominations should include a nomination letter, letters of support, curriculum vitae, and other appropriate documentation as requested by the Award Committee. Nominations should be sent by January 15, 2008 to:

Joan F. Hilton
Chair, Scott Award Committee
UCSF Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics
185 Berry Street, Suite 5700,
San Francisco, CA 94107-1762

Florence Nightingale David Award     

F. N. David Award is a newly established award, sponsored jointly by COPSS and the Caucus for Women in Statistics. This award is named after Florence Nightingale David, an accomplished statistician and the first recipient of the Elizabeth L. Scott Award. This award is to be granted to a female statistician who serves as a role model to other women by her contributions to the profession through excellence in research, leadership of multidisciplinary collaborative groups, statistics education, or service to the professional societies. The F. N. David Award, established in 2001, will be awarded bi-annually (odd years) and consists of a plaque and cash award. Nominations for the F.N. David Award should include a current vitae for the nominee, a nomination letter (up to 3 pages), and up to 5 supporting letters.